Female wage labour in peasant migration farm of Western Siberia in late 19th - early 20th centuries

Spread of wage labour in agriculture of Western Siberiain the second half of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th centuries was the effect of a more active migration movement, the developmentof commodity-money relations in the Siberian village and the condition of formation of peasant farm in the places of settlement. Themajor part of hired workers in agriculture was males, but the use of hired female labour was widely practiced. The periodicity of demandfor workers depended on the cycle of agricultural activity in Siberia. The period from the beginning of sowing works to the end ofharvest time owing to its vital importance for peasant farm, short duration and many labour consuming activities demanded hiring additionalworkers, which migrants could provide. In this period a stable demand for male and female labour was formed, as peasant womenparticipated in many kinds of fieldwork. Depending on the term and volume of the forthcoming work employment was divided intoannual, terminable, monthly, daily and piecework forms. Employment of annual woman workers was very seldom. The most widespreadforms of wage labour, especially in the period of intensive agricultural work, were daily and monthly hire. And these forms ofhire were spread when using female labour. The cost of female labour in Western Siberia did not fluctuate considerably between thedistricts of the same province; nevertheless, there were firm fluctuations of the cost of female labour within the districts. This can beexplained by relatively homogeneous social-economic and geographical conditions within the same province and by a specific situationof separate settlements. The largest amplitude of prices of workers was between provinces. Correlation of prices of female and malework in West Siberian provinces changed according to the season of agricultural work, reducing greatly during harvest time. Thus, femalewage labour was widely used. Demand for wage labour in agriculture had a seasonal character; its peak was in harvest time. Correlationof males and females hired for agricultural work changed in this period, the quota of females in wage labour grew and could evenprevail, the variance in the cost of male and female work reduced, it could be 20-30% instead of 50-70% in other periods. On the wholewe can state that female wage labour favoured strengthening economic welfare of peasant migration farm to some extent, especially inthe initial period of its existence, promoting quicker adaptation of migrants in the region.

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